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For nearly a week, Najibullah Zazi told the FBI, reporters and even his own attorney that he had nothing to do with plotting a terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
But an FBI affidavit and indictment unsealed Thursday charge that for weeks Zazi had been following bombmaking instructions, collecting chemicals from beauty-supply shops and testing the preparation of a hydrogen peroxide bomb in a metro-area hotel room.
FBI agents believe Zazi intended to use the explosives on a U.S. target. The chemicals he acquired are similar to those used in the 2005 London train bombings and Richard Reid’s failed 2001 shoe-bomb plot.
Zazi, a 24-year-old airport shuttle driver, was indicted by a New York grand jury on a charge of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction. Zazi is due in court in Denver at 9 a.m. today for a hearing that could lead to his transfer to Brooklyn to face trial on the charge. If convicted, he could face life in prison.
During a Thursday hearing, Zazi’s attorney, Art Folsom, asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Craig B. Shaffer for a one-day delay on a hearing seeking his client’s release from jail before trial. He also asked that his client be given a copy of the Koran in the federal detention center where he is being held. He declined through a spokeswoman to comment on the indictment.
Zazi’s father, Mohammed Zazi, is still charged with making a false statement to the FBI. But he was released from jail Thursday amid reports from 9News and others that he will be subpoenaed to testify against his son before the grand jury in New York.
The elder Zazi declined to make a statement as he left the courthouse in a jail-issued pair of tan pants and a white T-shirt. Federal officials declined to disclose where he will be living while under electronic monitoring. A New York imam who also faces charges of making false statements in the case was also released on bail.
In Washington, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder issued a statement that the investigation is ongoing.
“We are investigating a wide range of leads related to this alleged conspiracy, and we will continue to work around the clock to ensure that anyone involved is brought to justice,” Holder said. “We believe any imminent threat arising from this case has been disrupted, but as always, we remind the American public to be vigilant and to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement.”
The FBI believes that Najibullah Zazi learned how to make bombs at an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan in 2008 and that he traveled from Colorado to New York City on Sept. 10 to further a criminal plan.
Zazi reportedly admitted to the FBI during voluntary questioning that he had been to an al-Qaeda training camp, but he told The Denver Post that the allegation was not true and he was in the country to visit his wife.
After returning from Pakistan in January 2009, Zazi moved to Colorado, and authorities believe that in July and August he began researching and purchasing chemicals, including hydrogen peroxide and acetone products.
Agents say that Zazi and unnamed associates purchased the products — including liquid developer used to dye hair — in the Denver area. The Associated Press reported that a source told them several still-unnamed people traveled to Colorado and used stolen credit cards to buy products at beauty-supply stores in the area.
The documents do not state whether the bombmaking materials have been recovered.
Followed to N.Y. by FBI
Surveillance video and receipts reviewed by the FBI show that on July 25, Zazi purchased six bottles of Clairoxide Clear Liquid Developer in Aurora. The product contains high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. A 16-ounce bottle costs as little as $2.35.
Agents obtained more videos and receipts that reportedly show Zazi bought 12 32-ounce bottles of Ms. K Liquid 40 Volume from the same store in Aurora on Aug. 28. A clerk named Oscar at the Beauty Supply Warehouse store at Interstate 225 and East Sixth Avenue said he asked why Zazi wanted so much hair dye. Zazi replied that he had “a lot of girlfriends.”
Investigators say that the same day, Zazi went to a hotel near the beauty-supply store and checked into a suite that had a stove.
Zazi reportedly checked into the same suite at the same hotel again on Sept. 6. The name of the hotel is not included in the court documents.
“Subsequent FBI testing for explosives and chemical residue in the suite revealed the presence of acetone residue in the vent above the stove,” court records say.
For the next two days, agents said, Zazi tried to communicate with another person, “urgent in tone,” seeking correct mixtures of ingredients to make explosives. He searched the Internet for locations of a home-improvement store in Queens, N.Y., looking for muriatic acid — a component that is used to make a hydrogen peroxide bomb.
He also searched for lab instructions for working safely with hydrochloric acid.
When Zazi rented a car and began driving to New York from Colorado on Sept. 9, the FBI followed him.
Zazi arrived in Queens on Sept. 10 and stayed at an apartment in Flushing, Queens. When Zazi parked his rental car in New York, agents towed the car and examined his laptop. They claim it contained handwritten notes about bombmaking in a JPEG image.
Zazi got the laptop back and left New York on a plane.
“Painful” choice for a parent
After Zazi left New York, agents searched the Flushing apartment and found an electronic weight scale in the closet and batteries. Court records say that the items contained Zazi’s fingerprints and that the scale is used to measure the proper concentrations of chemicals to make bombs.
When the FBI raided Zazi’s Aurora apartment on Sept. 16, they seized the same laptpop. The hard drive had been removed.
During Thursday’s hearing, Ed Harris, a lawyer assigned to defend Mohammed Zazi on allegations he lied to the FBI during questioning, argued that his client should go free on bond because he is not a risk to the community.
“Mr. Zazi is not a terrorist,” Harris told the judge. “At worst, he is someone who lied to law enforcement. He is not going anywhere and he is not a flight risk.”
9News reported Mohammed Zazi may have to take on the task of testifying against his own son in front of a New York grand jury.
Denver defense lawyer Larry Pozner, who is not connected to the case, said he expects that Mohammed Zazi may invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and be granted immunity to testify against his own son.
“He will be required to truthfully answer the questions, and witnesses who are ordered to do so normally do,” Pozner said. “If he does not answer, he goes to jail for contempt, and if he answers untruthfully, then he will face charges of lying to the grand jury.”
Pozner said a parent rarely wants to testify against his own child.
“It’s extremely painful, and not only is it painful but, depending on the situation, the jury may develop tremendous sympathy for the accused and the parent,” he said. “However, we have not seen this in a case alleging terrorist activities. This case is at the far end of the spectrum of importance.”
Najibullah Zazi’s fellow airport shuttle drivers, including other Afghanistan-born men, reacted incredulously as word of the indictment circulated Thursday afternoon.
“It all sounds so funny. I don’t think so,” said Temur Akbar, 42, operations manager of the ABC Transportation company that employed Zazi since March. “He’s not that smart, to build a bomb. That guy, he’s like a kid.”
Akbar said Zazi wanted a better life in Colorado and hoped to bring his wife from Pakistan someday.
Among drivers now, Akbar said, “everybody is surprised. None of them think that this thing is true. . . . I honestly don’t know.”
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
